Home › Glossary › Letter C

Conceit Spiritualization

Metaphysics
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A conceit that transforms material, physical, or bodily experience into spiritual significance, suggesting that matter can embody spirit and that physical reality participates in metaphysical truth. The sacred dwells within the material.

Detailed Definition
Spiritualization conceits suggest that the distinction between material and spiritual reality proves less absolute than it appears, that the physical world can express spiritual truth. These conceits transform everyday objects and bodily experiences into vehicles for spiritual insight, suggesting that careful attention to the material world opens perception to metaphysical dimensions.
Example
Example in poetry:
John Donne’s “The Ecstasy” spiritualizes physical love as soul union; Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death” spiritualizes death as a gentle journey; George Herbert’s “The Flower” spiritualizes seasonal change as divine faithfulness; T.S. Eliot’s “Ash-Wednesday” spiritualizes penitence as purification; Sylvia Plath’s “Ariel” spiritualizes self-annihilation as transcendence; Rumi’s poetry spiritualizes earthly love as divine longing.
Additional Notes
Conceit Spiritualization transforms physical into sacred—Crashaw’s tears become Eucharistic wine, using conceit to transubstantiate bodily fluids into divine symbols, affirming incarnational metaphysics.
Also Known As
Sacralization Spiritual Metaphor Transcendent Imagery
Skip to main content